Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 265003 (2004) [4 pages]Electron Screening and Kinetic-Energy Oscillations in a Strongly Coupled PlasmaReceived 24 August 2004; revised 10 December 2004; published 20 December 2004 We study equilibration of strongly coupled ions in an ultracold neutral plasma produced by photoionizing laser-cooled and trapped atoms. By varying the electron temperature, we show that electron screening modifies the equilibrium ion temperature. Even with few electrons in a Debye sphere, the screening is well described by a model using a Yukawa ion-ion potential. We also observe damped oscillations of the ion kinetic energy that are a unique feature of equilibration of a strongly coupled plasma. © 2004 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.265003
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.265003
PACS:
52.27.Gr, 32.80.Pj, 52.38.Dx, 52.70.Kz
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